diff --git a/mcrypto/mcrypto.go b/mcrypto/mcrypto.go
index 458982f..633a359 100644
--- a/mcrypto/mcrypto.go
+++ b/mcrypto/mcrypto.go
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 )
 
+// TODO rather than have the NewSignerVerifier methods, it might be better to
+// have a Secret type, which implements Signer/Verifier. That way when there's
+// Encrypter/Decrypter interfaces then Secret can implement those too, and
+// PublicKey/PrivateKey can implement their respective ones. There'll be a nice
+// symmetry there, rather than having NewEncrypterDecrypter functions.
+
 // Instead of outputing opaque hex garbage, this package opts to add a prefix to
 // the garbage. Each "type" of string returned has its own character which is
 // not found in the hex range (0-9, a-f), and in addition each also has a
@@ -19,6 +25,8 @@ const (
 	uuidV0      = "0u" // u for uuid
 	sigV0       = "0s" // s for signature
 	encryptedV0 = "0n" // n for "n"-crypted, harharhar
+	pubKeyV0    = "0l" // b for pub"l"ic key
+	privKeyV0   = "0v" // v for pri"v"ate key
 )
 
 func stripPrefix(s, prefix string) (string, bool) {
diff --git a/mcrypto/pair.go b/mcrypto/pair.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e4cf5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mcrypto/pair.go
@@ -0,0 +1,241 @@
+package mcrypto
+
+import (
+	"crypto"
+	"crypto/rand"
+	"crypto/rsa"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"io"
+	"math/big"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/mediocregopher/mediocre-go-lib/mlog"
+)
+
+var (
+	errMalformedPublicKey  = errors.New("malformed public key")
+	errMalformedPrivateKey = errors.New("malformed private key")
+)
+
+// NewKeyPair generates and returns a complementary public/private key pair
+func NewKeyPair() (PublicKey, PrivateKey) {
+	return newKeyPair(2048)
+}
+
+// NewWeakKeyPair is like NewKeyPair but the returned pair uses fewer bits
+// (though still a reasonably secure amount for data that doesn't need security
+// guarantees into the year 3000 whatever).
+func NewWeakKeyPair() (PublicKey, PrivateKey) {
+	return newKeyPair(1024)
+}
+
+func newKeyPair(bits int) (PublicKey, PrivateKey) {
+	priv, err := rsa.GenerateKey(rand.Reader, bits)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return PublicKey{priv.PublicKey}, PrivateKey{priv}
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+// PublicKey is a wrapper around an rsa.PublicKey which simplifies using it and
+// adds marshaling/unmarshaling methods.
+//
+// A PublicKey automatically implements the Verifier interface.
+type PublicKey struct {
+	rsa.PublicKey
+}
+
+func (pk PublicKey) verify(s Signature, r io.Reader) error {
+	h := sha256.New()
+	r = sigPrefixReader(r, 32, s.salt, s.t)
+	if _, err := io.Copy(h, r); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := rsa.VerifyPSS(&pk.PublicKey, crypto.SHA256, h.Sum(nil), s.sig, nil); err != nil {
+		return mlog.ErrWithKV(ErrInvalidSig, s)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (pk PublicKey) String() string {
+	nB := pk.N.Bytes()
+	b := make([]byte, 8+len(nB))
+	// the exponent is never negative so this is fine
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint64(b, uint64(pk.E))
+	copy(b[8:], nB)
+	return pubKeyV0 + hex.EncodeToString(b)
+}
+
+// KV implements the method for the mlog.KVer interface
+func (pk PublicKey) KV() mlog.KV {
+	return mlog.KV{"publicKey": pk.String()}
+}
+
+// MarshalText implements the method for the encoding.TextMarshaler interface
+func (pk PublicKey) MarshalText() ([]byte, error) {
+	return []byte(pk.String()), nil
+}
+
+// UnmarshalText implements the method for the encoding.TextUnmarshaler
+// interface
+func (pk *PublicKey) UnmarshalText(b []byte) error {
+	str := string(b)
+	strEnc, ok := stripPrefix(str, pubKeyV0)
+	if !ok || len(strEnc) <= hex.EncodedLen(8) {
+		return mlog.ErrWithKV(errMalformedPublicKey, mlog.KV{"pubKeyStr": str})
+	}
+
+	b, err := hex.DecodeString(strEnc)
+	if err != nil {
+		return mlog.ErrWithKV(err, mlog.KV{"pubKeyStr": str})
+	}
+
+	pk.E = int(binary.BigEndian.Uint64(b))
+	pk.N = new(big.Int)
+	pk.N.SetBytes(b[8:])
+	return nil
+}
+
+// MarshalJSON implements the method for the json.Marshaler interface
+func (pk PublicKey) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
+	return json.Marshal(pk.String())
+}
+
+// UnmarshalJSON implements the method for the json.Unmarshaler interface
+func (pk *PublicKey) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
+	var s string
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &s); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return pk.UnmarshalText([]byte(s))
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+// PrivateKey is a wrapper around an rsa.PrivateKey which simplifies using it
+// and adds marshaling/unmarshaling methods.
+//
+// A PrivateKey automatically implements the Signer interface.
+type PrivateKey struct {
+	*rsa.PrivateKey
+}
+
+func (pk PrivateKey) sign(r io.Reader) (Signature, error) {
+	salt := make([]byte, 8)
+	if _, err := rand.Read(salt); err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	t := time.Now()
+	h := sha256.New()
+	// sigLen has to be 32 here (bytes returned by sha256) cause of the way the
+	// VerifyPSS function is
+	if _, err := io.Copy(h, sigPrefixReader(r, 32, salt, t)); err != nil {
+		return Signature{}, err
+	}
+	sig, err := rsa.SignPSS(rand.Reader, pk.PrivateKey, crypto.SHA256, h.Sum(nil), nil)
+	return Signature{sig: sig, salt: salt, t: t}, err
+}
+
+func (pk PrivateKey) String() string {
+	numBytes := binary.MaxVarintLen64 * 3 // public exponent, N, and D
+	nB, dB := pk.PublicKey.N.Bytes(), pk.D.Bytes()
+	numBytes += len(nB) + len(dB)
+
+	primes := make([][]byte, len(pk.Primes))
+	for i, prime := range pk.Primes {
+		primes[i] = prime.Bytes()
+		numBytes += binary.MaxVarintLen64 + len(primes[i])
+	}
+
+	b, ptr := make([]byte, numBytes), 0
+	ptr += binary.PutUvarint(b[ptr:], uint64(pk.E))
+	ptr += binary.PutUvarint(b[ptr:], uint64(len(nB)))
+	ptr += copy(b[ptr:], nB)
+	ptr += binary.PutUvarint(b[ptr:], uint64(len(dB)))
+	ptr += copy(b[ptr:], dB)
+
+	for _, prime := range primes {
+		ptr += binary.PutUvarint(b[ptr:], uint64(len(prime)))
+		ptr += copy(b[ptr:], prime)
+	}
+
+	return privKeyV0 + hex.EncodeToString(b[:ptr])
+}
+
+// KV implements the method for the mlog.KVer interface
+func (pk PrivateKey) KV() mlog.KV {
+	return mlog.KV{"privateKey": pk.String()}
+}
+
+// MarshalText implements the method for the encoding.TextMarshaler interface
+func (pk PrivateKey) MarshalText() ([]byte, error) {
+	return []byte(pk.String()), nil
+}
+
+// UnmarshalText implements the method for the encoding.TextUnmarshaler
+// interface
+func (pk *PrivateKey) UnmarshalText(b []byte) error {
+	str := string(b)
+	strEnc, ok := stripPrefix(str, privKeyV0)
+	if !ok {
+		return mlog.ErrWithKV(errMalformedPrivateKey, mlog.KV{"privKeyStr": str})
+	}
+
+	b, err := hex.DecodeString(strEnc)
+	if err != nil {
+		return mlog.ErrWithKV(err, mlog.KV{"privKeyStr": str})
+	}
+
+	e, n := binary.Uvarint(b)
+	if n <= 0 {
+		return mlog.ErrWithKV(errMalformedPrivateKey, mlog.KV{"privKeyStr": str})
+	}
+	pk.PublicKey.E = int(e)
+	b = b[n:]
+
+	bigInt := func() *big.Int {
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil
+		}
+		l, n := binary.Uvarint(b)
+		if n <= 0 {
+			err = errMalformedPrivateKey
+		}
+		b = b[n:]
+		i := new(big.Int)
+		i.SetBytes(b[:l])
+		b = b[l:]
+		return i
+	}
+
+	pk.PublicKey.N = bigInt()
+	pk.D = bigInt()
+	for len(b) > 0 && err == nil {
+		pk.Primes = append(pk.Primes, bigInt())
+	}
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return mlog.ErrWithKV(err, mlog.KV{"privKeyStr": str})
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// MarshalJSON implements the method for the json.Marshaler interface
+func (pk PrivateKey) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
+	return json.Marshal(pk.String())
+}
+
+// UnmarshalJSON implements the method for the json.Unmarshaler interface
+func (pk *PrivateKey) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
+	var s string
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &s); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return pk.UnmarshalText([]byte(s))
+}
diff --git a/mcrypto/pair_test.go b/mcrypto/pair_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0a40d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mcrypto/pair_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package mcrypto
+
+import (
+	. "testing"
+
+	"github.com/mediocregopher/mediocre-go-lib/mtest"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestKeyPair(t *T) {
+	pub, priv := NewWeakKeyPair()
+
+	// test signing/verifying
+	str := mtest.RandHex(512)
+	sig := SignString(priv, str)
+	assert.NoError(t, VerifyString(pub, sig, str))
+}